This invention relates to battery separators and the like and more especially to those having protruding elements extending above the plane of the main surface thereof.
Battery separators have in the past had main surfaces with members projecting thereabove in various patterns as illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,694,744; 2,677,008; 2,172,382 and 2,198,845. The separators of the prior art have various deficiencies such as having the protrusions so aligned that while the protrusions would engage the paste of the battery plate and thereby provide the additional separator spacing they would not assure contact with substantially all of the grid members. This is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,744 by way of example. In many battery grids the horizontal and vertical grid members are not equally heavy. In these instances, the dominant or heavier grid wire or member is usually the vertical one. In other prior art separators, the protrusions have been so arranged as to exclude the settling of materials in the battery. Material shed from the battery plates and other materials which might accumulate in the battery should be allowed to fall down to the bottom of the battery. This would not occur with the separator shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,198,845.
A discussion of various grid designs as well as other background information may be found at page 28 and elsewhere in the book, Storage Batteries, by George Wood Vinal, fourth edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, copyrighted 1955.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a superior battery separator.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a superior battery separator having reduced mass with maximum contact of the grid portions of the battery plates by thickened areas of the separator.